Assessing the uniformity of plutonium alpha radiation dose in human lung: the Mayak experience.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry
; 99(1-4): 457-61, 2002.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-12194353
ABSTRACT
Radiation-induced lung cancer risk is currently estimated based on epidemiological data from populations exposed either to relatively uniform, low-LET radiation, or from uranium miners who inhaled radon and its progeny. Inhaled alpha-emitting radionuclides (e.g. Pu and Am) produce distinctive dose patterns that may not be adequately modelled at present. Thus the distribution of Pu is being measured in formalin-fixed autopsy lung tissue from former workers at the Mayak Production Association, and which is maintained in a tissue archive at SUBI. Lungs are sampled using contemporary stereological techniques and Pu particle activities and locations are determined using quantitative autoradiography and morphological identification of lung structures. To date, > 80% of Pu particles have been observed in parenchymal lung tissues with higher concentrations being found in scar tissue. Concentrations of Pu particles in conducting airways are uniformly low, thus indicating that long-term-retained Pu particles are non-uniformly distributed in human lung, mostly in the parenchyma.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Occupational Exposure
/
Plutonium
/
Environmental Pollution
/
Alpha Particles
/
Lung
Aspects:
Determinantes_sociais_saude
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
/
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Radiat Prot Dosimetry
Year:
2002
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United States